The UK public now sends a mind-boggling 2.4 billion of them every year. So it’s not wonder that they become such a sought-after element in the product mix of virtually every retailer on the high street and beyond. There is no doubt about it, we British love our greeting cards. These days you can find greeting card displays every where from petrol station shops to supermarkets, department stores to chemists, garden centres to convenience stores.
Which is why in an image-led business such as floristry, it’s vital to take a considered view of the cards florists choose to stock. Find ones that enhance and support their designer image and these florists should turn them over fast, and be looking at a steady stream of add-on profits. Get it wrong however and the chances are their card racks will gather dust and will be a waste of their valuable display stands.
The most significant characteristic that flowers and greeting cards have in common is that they are bought predominantly by women – which make them excellent bedfellows in a florist shop. In the case of cards, research shows that a staggering 85% of them are sent women. And the good news that is that more than a half of these women say the really enjoy buying and sending cards. For the florist, it means that selling greeting cards ought to be as easy and pleasurable as selling flowers for Mother’s Day. Female customers on the lookout for cards are more than happy to spend – so long as products hit the right spot. And, as with flowers, the spot is primarily emotional.
The greeting cards industry adage that “the designs attracts, the verse sells" is becoming less true in the era when many card-buyers now prefer a blank card that they can personalise themselves. This makes the visual design all the more important – and is the main reason why those tired old anniversary wedding bells and “pipe and slippers" retirement cards will no longer cut it in a market of increasingly sophisticated consumers.
In line with craft element of their business, many florists are going for the high end of the market by going for embellished, handmade cards, or ranges that use stunning, sharp photography or watercolour print artwork.
So, bearing in the mind then that cards are something that florists really can’t do without, I’d recommend visiting Lotus Art Studio website to see their stunning collections of
handmade greeting cards and
florist gift cards .
